After what seemed like so much drama and scandal revolving around the much-anticipated movie “Don’t Worry Darling,” it finally released to theaters on Sept. 23.
Directed by Olivia Wilde, the movie featured an extremely talented cast, which accounted for a lot of the buzz and excitement as people anticipated the movie release. Florence Pugh, a fan-favorite actress who performed in highly praised movies such as “Midsommar” and “Little Women,” plays the lead, Alice Chambers. Harry Styles, an international pop icon, also plays a leading role as Jack Chambers, Alice’s husband.
“Don’t Worry Darling” was already a movie people were itching to see, but when drama involving the cast began circulating around social media platforms people seemed to be jumping out of their seats and into theaters in order to see this movie as soon as it was released. It seems that the general public and critics were expecting big things from this movie, especially because the trailer alone is wildly captivating. However, it seems the movie may have fallen flat, at least on the critics’ side of things.
The movie is currently sitting at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes and 48% on Metacritic. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes found that the movie didn’t come through on its promise of innovation, instead repeating popular themes seen in other works. They also commented how if not for the cast, the movie wouldn’t have been as successful as it currently is. Watching this movie after reading the drama surrounding the production is similar to riding a rollercoaster and anticipating this insane adrenaline rush of a drop, but instead you get a flat track that satisfies no one.
It seems many people, especially the general audience, were looking forward to a mind-bending movie that had plot twists of the century, but the movie has fallen short of that promise. Some audience members felt the movie was off-putting at times due to Styles’ cheesy — or just bad — acting. An online news website called The Daily Beast even released an article titled “It Turns Out Harry Styles Is Really Bad At Acting.” They insist that Styles’ natural charisma as a performer has just not yet translated on screen and that he seems uncomfortable.
On the other hand, there does seem to be an aggressive split in the movie’s reception, as some people are loving the way the movie turned out. Some people argue that those who don’t like the movie are not fully understanding the message of the movie. Some people think that Pugh’s talent, who is an award winning actress, is in too stark of a contrast in comparison to Styles, who is fairly new to acting and certainly new to being a lead actor in a multi-million-dollar film. Her acting does seem to be holding up a lot of the intensity and depth of the film.
Overall, “Don’t Worry Darling” does not seem to be an Oscar-worthy film, but it is certainly an entertaining movie that is worth the watch. While some of the acting may not have been up to par, nobody has said it was a boring movie by any means.
